The importance of consistent branding

According to Al Ries and Laura Ries, co-authors of "The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding," the most frequently violated law of branding is consistency. "Markets may change, but brands shouldn't," state Ries and Ries. "They may be bent slightly or given a new slant, but their essential characteristics (once those characteristics are firmly planted in the mind) should never be changed."

Lack of consistency is certainly a common pitfall for many businesses regardless of size, especially in sales and marketing presentations. All too often, sales or seminar presentations are generated with different logos and no consistent message or theme throughout. The harm in such a practice is the next time your company is submitting a presentation to the same firm, your name may not even trigger a memory with them. By providing a consistent message in your proposals and presentations, your company develops a personality and creates credibility in the marketplace. Your presentations will stand out amongst the crowd by developing a clear and consistent message.

The difficulties in ensuring a professional and consistently branded presentation every time has been recognised by visual communications company Walnut Media who have developed Showsuite, a solution to delivering more compelling business presentations.

Showsuite enables Walnut Media to produce a range of visual information, including dynamic graphics, video, PowerPoint slides and web-pages and deliver in a screen based format designed for maximum impact. Showsuite is adaptable to different situations, and gives presenters the flexibility to pick out the most salient messages for their audience, either prior to, or during the presentation.

In partnership with its clients, Walnut Media will create a library of content in Showsuite. This is particularly attractive to companies with large sales teams delivering the same basic presentation, but who want the ability to instantly call up the parts of the presentation most relevant to their client.

"It's an interactive, end to end presentation solution", says Walnut Media Director Gary Nutland. "But more importantly we work with companies to develop compelling content for their presentations, so that their brand and what it represents is clearly communicated."

Chris Phillips at Primecare, one of the UK’s leading healthcare companies, agrees with Gary, "Showsuite provides us with a powerful audio and visual tool for communicating with our prospective customers and target audiences. The customers can easily and quickly understand what we do and through still and video clips can, with Showsuite’s assistance, experience the service we provide without having to be there.

Our Senior Management Team Area and Branch Managers have a great advantage with Showsuite as they can combine both professionally prepared PowerPoint presentations with video and audio.

This ability to tailor presentations is extremely beneficial. With Showsuite you don’t have to use everything in the presentation, the software allows you to choose appropriate material for the presentation you are conducting, making the solution very adaptable".

Walnut Media has over twenty years of experience in putting together videos, corporate events and communications packages. Showsuite is a further development of these solutions.

"Showsuite is unique in that it offers rich visual content that can be easily adapted for specific needs. We provide a complete presentation solution with our software, video clips and scripting, but presenters can add in content if they want to tailor the presentation for a specific client," says Nutland. "But the brand message remains the same, something that's extremely important in today's competitive environment."

The importance of consistency does not end with proposals and presentations. Conducting a marketing audit will help you determine how consistent your firm's materials really are. To do this, gather all information that actually leaves your office - either through the front door, e-mail or fax - and examine each piece carefully for inconsistencies in your message or theme. Don't forget items such as advertisements, coffee mugs or other giveaways, business cards, invoices and more. Reviewing these materials at the same time will help you see obvious discrepancies, but will also allow you to evaluate which message you want to send.

Another key concept to remember is the importance of logo consistency, especially because your logo may be your sole identity for your firm. Although the logo that you see a hundred times a day may look old and tired to you, it is important to remember that to your current and future clients, this icon is a symbol of who you are. A logo should represent the quality and expertise that your company represents. Frequently changing your logo will destroy any penetration you have in the marketplace, so resist the urge to tweak depending on the presentation. Instead of a complete image overhaul - which takes both a large time and monetary commitment - you should simply refresh and fine-tune your logo and corporate identity over time. This will give you the ability to capitalise on the strengths of a consistent brand while ensuring that your logo does not become dated.

Walnut Media is a leading visual communications production company based in Leeds. For more information about Showsuite and other presentation design and production services, contact Gary Nutland - 08707 427070 or visit www.walnutmedia.com.